Space saver cabinet



June 2, 1970 w. A. JAECKE SPACE SAVER CABINET Filed May 29, 1968 L 2 J gJ z a v 5 a H J 2 8 WM a 2 F n. w Z 11 I 2 1| IA] f a w n 3/ g ZINVENTOR.

WILLIAM A. JAECKE Fri/ 9 :5 BY

%W/%Ww/ H/S ATTORNEYS United States Patent US. Cl. 312245 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A miniature cabinet is provided for mountingin a conventional cabinet or cupboard, such as used for housingmedicines and toilet articles. The cabinet is constructed of pieces thatmay be packaged as a compact unit for storage and shipping purposes, andeasily and quickly assembled into a unitary structure for mounting in aconventional cupboard or cabinet. The assembled unit is constructed toprovide a practical, useful and space-saving shelf arrangement forhorizontally-lying articles, such as tubes of tooth paste, creams, etc.A bottom shelf of the unit has a self-adhesive type of surface forsecurely-positioning it in a conventional cupboard or cabinet. The unithas shelves that are sloped backwardly to aid in retaining articlesthereon; the parts of the construction are interfitting to provide aunit that will retain an assembled relation when supported on a shelf orbottom member.

The invention relates to a new and useful miniature shelf or cabinetunit that is insertable within and usable as an adjunct for aconventional cabinet. A particular phase of the invention deals with aminiature cabinet constructed for secure assembly within a compartmentof a conventional cabinet to make possible a more eflicient utilizationof space therein and a better and safer storage of articles.

There has been a need for better shelf storage facilities that will beparticularly suitable for receiving and positioning normallyhorizontally-positionable articles, such as a hair brush, comb, toothpaste, shaving and other creams in collapsible tubes, etc. It will beappreciated that certain types of articles are better or more suitablycarried in a horizontal, as distinguished from a vertical positioning.Heretofore, tubes as inserted on the shelves of an ordinary cupboard orcabinet have been wasteful of overhead space and have tended to causeadjacent, vertically-positioned articles, such as bottles of medicine,etc., to be knocked over when removing or inserting them andparticularly, if the tubes are stacked on the shelf. There has thus beena need for an improved miniature cabinet unit that will be particularlysuitable for storing horizontally-extending or tube-like articles and,at the same time, that will save useful space in the cabinet and willmake possible a better utilization of the available overhead compartmentspacing of a conventional cabinet.

It has been an object of the invention to devise a special, insertable,miniature cabinet unit for use in combination with a conventionalcabinet or cupboard to assure a better utilization of overhead space anda proper positioning of collapsible tube articles or articles thatshould in general be positioned substantially horizontally rather thanvertically.

Another object of the invention has been to devise a miniature cabinetthat can be made of a group of parts, packaged in a compact relationshipfor storage and shipment, and assembled as a secure unit for taking careof the storage requirements relative to tube-like or horizontally-positionable articles such as ordinarily carried in a medicinecabinet and the like.

A further object of the invention has been to develop a space-savingshelf or cabinet construction that is par Patented June 2, 1970ticularly suitable for use in a portion of the storage compartment of aconventional cabinet and that when installed will provide a betterutilization of storage space therein.

A still further object of the invention has been to devise a miniaturecabinet or cupboard that will provide an efficient and elfective shelfstorage for tube-like or horizontal articles and that will provide abetter and more sure positioning of such articles in an easilyaccessible stored relation.

These and other objects of the invention will appear to those skilled inthe art from the illustrated embodiment and the claims.

In the drawings, FIG. 1 is an isometric view in elevation illustrating astorage and shipping package of a cabinet unit having parts constructedin accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded isometric view in elevation and partial sectionillustrating how parts of the cabinet unit may be assembled anddisassembled.

And FIG. 3 is a reduced view in elevation illustrating an operativeassembled position of a miniature cabinet unit of the invention withincompartment spacing or on a support member of a conventional medicinecabinet.

In carrying out the invention, I employ a group of members ofsubstantially planar or flat configuration that may be stored andshipped as a compact unit and that may be assembled in a secure butremovable relation within compartment spacing of a conventional cupboardor medicine cabinet such as 10. The backward extent or depth of themembers of the unit as assembled in the form of a compact miniaturecabinet unit or assembly 20 will preferably be the same depth orbackward extent as the compartment spacing of the conventional cabinet10 within which it is to be positioned. The vertical spacing between themembers of the miniature cabinet assembly 20 Will be such as to providea horizontal, backwardly-extending, single-layer, positioning ofarticles thereon and therealong. At least shelf members 21 andpreferably also a bottom member 24 have a backwardlysloped or decliningrelation, such that articles positioned thereon will tend to retaintheir positions and not to accidentally fall out of a supported relationwithin the miniature cabinet 20.

By way of illustration in the drawings, 10 represents a conventionalmedicine cabinet having a central compartment space therein, as definedby a rectangular frame structure 12. The cabinet 10 may be ofconventional construction and conventionally either mounted on or withinan opening in a wall 11 of a building construction. The compartmentspacing is divided off by horizontally-positioned, cross-extendingshelves 13 which are shown removably-supported on backwardly-extendingangle pieces 14 secured to side walls of the compartment. For thepurpose of mounting or positioning a miniature assembly 20 of theinvention, one of the lower shelves 13 may be removed. This may not benecessary, since it is common to provide a lower compartment spacing ina cabinet of greater height to take care of a few upright articles ofconsiderable extent or height. Although the conventional cabinet 10 mayhave an open front end, it is preferably provided with a swinging door15 mounted on hinges 16, a latch 17 on the door, and a keeper 18 on theframe. Thus, the compartment of cabinet 10 can be closed-off forappearance sake and for keeping out dust, etc.

The unit or assembly 20 of the invention, as shown in the drawings,employs a pair of vertically-upright, spacedapart side wall members 22of the same shape and construction, a top enclosing wall member 23, anda bottom closing wall member 24. The bottom member 24 may incidentallyalso serve as a bottom shelf in the compartment defined by the unit. Thetop member 23 and the bottom member 24 are provided at their ends with apair of inwardly-projecting latching or locking lugs 26 and 27 that arepreferably of rectangular section to lock or latch-engage within hollowsockets 25 of the side wall members 22. In this connection, each sideWall member 22 has a pair of spaced-apart sockets 25 located adjacentcorners at each of its ends.

After the side wall members 22 and the top member 23 and bottom member24 have been assembled into a rectangular frame-like structure which isself-supporting, then shelf members 21 may be slid into a positionwithin the compartment defined therewithin. As shown, each shelf 21 isof planar shape and is provided with an outwardly and backwardlyextending, end-mounted rail or tongue portion 21a that is adapted tohave a cooperating slide-guide fit with an associated backwardly ordepthwise extending guide slot or groove portion 22a of each of the sidewalls 22. Another way of assembling the members of the unit 20 is to,for example, mount the side walls 22 on the bottom member 24, insert theshelves 21 between the side walls 22, and then latch and mount the topmember 23- with respect to the side walls 22. In any event, theminiature cabinet 20, as assembled, has a secure and self-supporting,erect cabinet shape. If desired, the unit 20 may have a back wallmember, but better utilization of the available depth of the cabinet isaccomplished by using its back wall to close-01f the back of theminiature unit.

An appreciable back-ward declination is assured for each shelf 21 bybackwardly-dcclining or sloping the guide-slot or groove portions 22a.Also, the bottom member 24 may have a greater thickness extent at itsfront end or edge and a graduated, thinner thickness towards its backedge to also provide it with a backward declination or slope along itsupper surface and to, at the same time, permit the use of its under orbottom surface as a planar support for the unit. The angles of slope orbackward declination are represented by a in FIG. 2. In order tosecurely, but removably and easily mount the miniature cabinet 20 withinthe compartment spacing of a conventional cabinet 10, the undersurfaceof the bottom member 24 is provided with a cold-set type of self-sealingadhesive layer 28 which may be retained clean and protected duringstorage and shipment of the parts by a conventional tear-off paper orcloth cover sheet.

A preferable form of mounted positioning of the unit 20 is illustratedin FIG. 3. The depthwise extent of the unit 20 may be such that thefront edges of its parts are flush with the front face of the frame 12,so that the door may be fully closed. It will be noted that the bottommember 24 rests on a bottom portion 19 of the conventional cabinet 10,and that its length or endwise extent is less than the compartmentprovided therefor in the cabinet 10. This enables the use of the topsurface of the top member 23 as a shelf for vertically-positionablearticles of medium height within compartment portion A and permits thepositioning of relatively tall articles in side compartment portion B.

By way of example and not by way of limitation, the miniature cabinetmay have a longitudinal extent of about 8 inches, a height of about 5inches, with a spacing of about 1 inch between the shelf members 21,with a spacing of about 78 of an inch between a topmost shelf member 21and the top closure member 23, and with a spacing of about 1 /2 inchesbetween a bottom-most shelf'rnember 21 and the bottom closure member 24.This provides spacing for different sizes of horizontally-positionedarticles, including childrens, medium and giant sizes of tubularpackaged products, hair brushes, combs, scissors, tweezers 4 and flat,box-like articles and pill containers. The unit 20 will preferably be ofresin, wood or metal construction but may be made of any other suitablematerial. FIG. 1 illustrates how the substantially planar parts ormembers of the unit 20 may be stored and shipped as a compact unit in acardboard box C.

The illustrated embodiment embodies the invention, but it will beapparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications,additions, subtractions and substitutions may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim: a

1. In a multi-part miniature cabinet for substantially horizontalstorage of tubular and longitudinally-extending toilet articles and thatis adapted to be mounted on the bottom shelf of and Within aconventional cabinet; a pair of interfitting vertical side wall members,top and bottom wall members and shelf members, all of substantialyplanar construction for compact storage and shipment packaging;cooperating locking lug and socket portions at corner areas of said topand bottom and side wall members interfitting with each other to providea rectangularshaped enclosure that has a forwardly and ba-ckwardly opencompartment therethrough, said shelf members and said side wall membershaving cooperating rail and guide slot portions for securely mountingsaid shelf members within the compartment to extend across between saidside wall members in a front to backward declining relation therealong,said shelf members having a vertical spacing between each other and saidtop and bottom members of a minimum extent sufficient to receive andposition the articles in a longitudinally-backwardly-decliningpositioning thereon.

2. In a miniature cabinet as defined in claim 1, said bottom wall memberhaving a lower side that is complementary with an upper side of thebottom shelf of the conventional cabinet for aligned positioningthereon, and said bottom wall member having an upper side within thecompartment that declines backwardly therewithin.

3. In a miniature cabinet as defined in claim 2, said bottom wall havinga thickness that decreases from its front towards its back edge todefine the backward inclination of the upper side thereof.

4. In a miniature cabinet as defined in claim 1, said side walls havingthickened corner portions within which said vertically-extending socketportions are positioned, and said top and bottom walls having saidlocking lugs projecting adjacent their corners for interfitting withinsaid socket portions.

5. In a miniature cabinet as defined in claim 1, said bottom wall memberhaving an adhesive along its lower side for securing the miniaturecabinet on the bottom shelf of the conventional cabinet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,461,219 2/1949 Lew 3122582,769,551 11/1956 Just 312333 X 3,008,785 11/1961 Gehrs 312--2093,295,474 1 1967 Ornstein. 3,298,764 1/ 1967 Goldfarb 3l2245 X 3,437,392 4 1969 Hilfinger 3 l225 7 CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner US.Cl. X.R. 312209

